Black ice

by Lorene Cary

Paper Book, 1992

Status

Available

Genres

Biography & Memoir

Biography

Nonfiction

Publication

New York : Vintage Books, 1992.

Description

In 1972 Lorene Cary, a bright, ambitious black teenager from Philadelphia, was transplanted into the formerly all-white, all-male environs of the elite St. Paul's School in New Hampshire, where she became a scholarship student in a "boot camp" for future American leaders.nbsp;nbsp;Like any good student, she was determined to succeed.nbsp;nbsp;But Cary was also determined to succeed without selling out.nbsp;nbsp;This wonderfully frank and perceptive memoir describes the perils and ambiguities of that double role, in which failing calculus and winning a student election could both be interpreted as betrayals of one's skin.nbsp;nbsp;Black Ice is also a universally recognizable document of a woman's adolescence; it is, as Houston Baker says, "a journey into selfhood that resonates with sober reflection, intellignet passion, and joyous love."… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member andersonden

This book was interesting from a historical perspective. It covers the author's high school years where she is one of the first people to cross the color barrier in a New England prep school. It took me a long time to read this book - somehow it didn't "grab" me, but in the end I was glad I had

taken time to read it.

Show Less

3 more

LibraryThing member mjspear

Beautifully written but, for this reader, ultimately unsatisfying, look at a black girl's years at a prestigious prep school in New Hampshire. Lorene Cary leaves a middle class life in Philadelphia in her HS sophomore year to attend St. Paul High School, circa 1972. While she feels some degree of

"other-ness" she becomes amazingly assimilated into this world of prestige and money. She arrives wanting to "turn it out!" and, in the end, graduates with a respectable (if not stellar) academic career and winning the prestigious "Rector's Award." Along the way, she loses her virginity (in a most unromantic way), is challenged to study harder and learn more than she ever thought possible (Calculus remains her nemesis) deals with plebian summer jobs back in Phily. This reader was never sure if she "liked" St Paul's, or not. Her subsequent career brought her back to teach there and with all the detail she devotes to the various traditions, it would seem that she does. Leaving one to wonder: Did she sell out? Did she "drink the kool aid"? This reader was left wanting more and feeling somewhat cheated of the "real" story. I'd have traded all of the beautiful prose for a moment or two of real feeling.

Show Less

LibraryThing member mahallett

About her years at a northern mostly white boarding school. Couldn't identify much. Would read part 2 but she's 60 and hasn't written it.

LibraryThing member jonbrammer

St. Paul's is an elite prep school in New Hampshire. Lorene Cary's _Black Ice_ is a memoir of her time at the school, as an African-American girl from Philadelphia she finds herself in an alien environment. Unfortunately, the memories here are typical coming-of-age encounters with drugs, sex,

academic and social competitiveness; the central conflict presented of trying to fit in as a minority in a traditionally white environment is not analyzed. Perhaps Cary's race did not end up mattering that much - we do not see the incidents of racism that we expect.

Show Less

Fewer